Missed opportunities in the transfer market

With the transfer window about to slam shut at the end of the week, I wondered who you think we may have seriously missed out on this window? Obviously there are players who have already moved on for astronomical sums of money that simply would have been beyond our reach given the FFP constraints and improvements necessary across multiple positions in the team. So I don't consider Caicedo to be a "missed opportunity" per se given his fee, even if he'd have been a fantastic addition to the squad. Ditto with Harry Kane, Bellingham & so on - it just wasn't likely to happen.

My criteria for what a 'missed opportunity' might be is:

- relatively low transfer fee
- addresses a position (or positions) we are weak in
- has already moved club or looks likely to before the deadline

My picks:

1. Mohammed Kudus - has moved to West Ham for about £38m, and can operate as a SS, CAM, more box-to-box (as the more attack-mind one), from the right or even at CF. A very versatile player who brings power and skill to the table. For such a low price he could have been an excellent addition to our squad with his ability to cover multiple attacking roles, which surely would have been attractive given Greenwood's future has now been settled and Kudus can play from the right or up front.

2. Azzedine Ounahi - linked with a move to Brentford, but so far still a Marseille player. Gifted central midfield player; box to box, extremely high energy and a superb ball carrier. Lit up the world cup alongside Sofyan Amrabat in Morocco's midfield and looks a real prospect. Unlikely to command a big fee. One to watch if he does arrive in the PL before the deadline.

3. Kim Min-jae - Serie A-winning & CL-level ball playing CB who moved to Bayern for £50m. Given Varane's latest injury, KM-J would have arguably been the most ideal CB acquisition this summer and for a fee less than what City paid for Dias & Gvardiol and of course significantly less than what we paid for Maguire.

4. Jurrien Timber - athletic ball-playing defender who can operate across the entire backline or even midfield. We were heavily linked last summer, is known very well by ETH from their time at Ajax together and moved for just £34m. Obviously massively unlucky for him to pick up such a bad injury so soon into his Arsenal career, but nevertheless, he looks a miss on paper to me.

5. Benjamin Pavard - I wasn't massively sold on the idea of Pavard when we were initially linked but given how quickly Varane's injury has cropped up plus the fact that at the moment Dalot is our only fit option for LB (leaving us light at RB as well), Pavard's experience, quality and versatility suddenly looks a lot more attractive. He's now on the verge of a move to Inter Milan whilst we find ourselves short at CB and likely stuck with Maguire as one of the covering players in the position. Sounds like his transfer fee will be around the £30m mark, representing decent value.


It looks like we might finally be getting Amrabat over the line, so have not added him to this list, but I'd consider him a miss if that deal doesn't materialise; cheap, experienced, adds qualities to the team that we need, entering his prime years and clearly wants to play for United.

Who would you pick from the movers/might-be-movers this summer as missed or potentially missed opportunities in the market?

UPDATE:

6. Sandro Tonali - prompted by Red Russian's suggestion, I'd forgotten about Tonali. Looks a steal at £50m-ish and could easily have been the more robust ball-playing upgrade on Eriksen that our team needs.